Texting in school might not always be so bad...

Texting in School

The idea of texting in school is always followed with negative connotations. Since cell phones began appearing in the classroom, so did the temptation to text, browse the internet, and play games, instead of listening. In some circumstances who can really blame a student, some teachers just aren't that interesting. As technology continues to improve, the idea that school should be taught with only a blackboard, is out dated.

There is good news though, maybe students could text in the classroom. I'm not talking about high school students telling their boyfriend of two weeks that they love them, but texting answers to questions during class. In Dallas, Texas there are schools that have now incorporated texting in class. The teacher will ask a question on the board and the students will text in their response. This does a couple things. The first thing it does is it makes the classroom a social environment. It isn't the traditional social environment, but students are interacting with each other and the teacher.

There are a couple potential downfalls to this learning method though. What if students don't have smart phones? Well in this classroom there were ten laptops in which students could use if they needed one. What about the oldest question there is? What if students aren't paying attention and are texting other people? Now that is a good question. In this classroom, if a student is texting other, or playing games on their phone there are consequences. If you are caught, then you are fined $15 dollars, no questions asked. Will this eliminate texting altogether? Maybe not, but not many kids want to pay money out of their pockets, and more importantly they wouldn't want their parents to hear they cost them money because they weren't doing their work.

Will this be the new way of teaching within the classroom? Maybe, maybe not. It has a lot of upside though. Having students do something that they do anyways is a great idea. I would venture to say that almost every kid knows how to text. So why not apply it to the classroom? I like the fact that students get fined for being off topic. This could be something that is used within a classroom and is very successful. The key thing to remember, a truly great teacher can teach with or without technology. They know their students interest and are willing to center their subject around the students and not themselves.